Chapter 87: Spirit flowers, and the hidden danger.
Whittaker had found himself standing very far away from a wide and majestical mountain, upon which a palace was placed. Whittaker found out that that's the place he needs to reach when he saw the wooden board affixed atop towering gates that extended to the open sky.
Calligraphy in mandarin was drawn on it. In his childhood, he had learned mandarin as Mother Lin ancestry was Eastern.
"Hill atop Heavenly mountain!" The calligraphy said.
He saw blue light expanding outwards from the zenith descending till reaching the mountain's summit, swirling around Its entire body creating the form of a mystical being. The blue light at the zenith resembled a dragon, and as Its Blue Wings expanded outwards, it descended downwards, giving the impression of a celestial descension.
The blue light was thick mana. A single breath at that place will instantly restore all mana in the mana pool. Whittaker felt no doubt in comparing this mountain with a mountain in heaven. He could see a wide sparkling staircase that started from the summit of the mountain and reached its peak. Whittaker stood some thousand kilometers away, yet he could see the mystical route in the middle that connected the mountain summit to its top.
While moving towards the mountain summit, he encountered no difficulties, just a lot of treasures. Right now, he witness said treasure, once again, and he made a sprint towards it, 'If possible, I would love to become a farmer in this place and cultivate these flowers,'
With such thoughts, he dropped to his knees.
The system has told him a good method to separate the spirit flowers from the root. These flowers liked to be treated gently. They were so weak that a single rough treatment will cause them to wither into dozens of light sparkles, a waste in Whittaker's eyes.
By using his left hand to gently pour mana into the jaded flowers, he dug two inches below the grassy and sandy ground by using his right hand, with a swift yet gentle movement of the hand he pulled the spirit flower from the soil. The spirit flower was two times the size of a strawberry, with many veins of the same color shades of red on its surface. When he'd taken it out of the soil, the spirit flower had even been surrounded by a faint layer of mist, from which, a fresh smell lingered in the air. Sniffing it, his mind felt at ease and a sense of peace enveloped his body.
Along the way, he collected a lot of spirits flowers, around thirty-five so far. Without knowing when, six hours passed away, and dusk arrived, right away, he heard a medley of wild noises, belonging mostly to critters, which brightened up the forest.
Whittaker walked forwards towards his destination as the critters sound strangely synchronized with the sound of the wind blowing gently through the misty forest producing a melody that caressed his heart and soul. Slowly and steadily, the initial thought of this place being dangerous left his mind. He recalled the class weapons in his soul space. He would have stopped using Devansha eyes, too, but he didn't... rather couldn't. This was a misty forest and he would not be able to reach his destination if he is to stop using Devansha vision.
Very mystically, Whittaker was, in a sense, somewhat hypnotized by the comfort provided by this two-faced place. Just like that, six hours passed. Placed in the dimension of his Azure-sky ring was more than a hundred spirit flower of the lowest grade, but even these low-grade spirit flowers were a treasure that a normal awakened could only hope to acquire.
As he was walking on the trail in the middle of the forest, a plentiful harvest once again appeared in his sight. Dozens of spirit flowers surrounded one massive tree decorated with green vines. No doubt, his feet shifted towards that place way faster than a two-faced person changes his attire and attitude.
Dropping low, he starts to collect the precious treasure with a beaming smile, all the while leaving his defenseless back exposed to the scrutinizing gaze of a magical beast coiling around the thick tree. No one could notice it, for it has become one with the surrounding due to its innate ability. It awaited for the best time to strike and swallow the young snowy-haired boy whole.
Soon after, the entire area was swept clean of its natural treasures, left behind was just normal grass.
"As a gentleman, how can I leave something so precious to be wasted?" Whittaker defended his greedy nature. 'I am a gentleman indeed, for the spirit flowers didn't wilt because of my touch. No doubt about it...'
Afterward, he stood up to once again reach the trail in the middle of this forest, and head towards the mountain summit.
Nonchalantly, he took one step ahead, in the very moment, all around suddenly grew quiet, and a slight rustling sound clearly reached his ears, vaguely. He would have taken the rustling sound like the wind blowing grass and tree leaves gently, but the system instantly notified,
[Guardian, look out!] A system notification popped up in his front vision. Also, thanks to Devansha's vision, he also had a vision in the backside, hence he noticed a flash of purplish light darting towards his back. He didn't even have the chance to take out his Class weapon from his soul space, as the attack was too sudden and too fast. He could only use the newly acquired equips to defend against this insidious attack.
An Azure light lit up, as the wind Control rune inscribed on the wrapping equipped around his arms activated. By using the powers of this rune, Whittaker instantly created a white shield while turning around.
Bang! The wrapping which was molded into a defensive shield suffered a massive frontal brunt and bend low, but it had provided enough time, and both of Whittaker's Class weapon has materialized in the physical world, almost immediately, he bent his waist, head shifting backward, somewhat like how Shadow did to evade the winter wolf attack shot at his face.
Something flew past his face, its sharp scales threatened to disfigure his handsome and snowy white face with smooth skin. Thankfully, by using his S-ranked sword, he blocked the glinting purplish scales of the thing that flew from right above him.
Right away, a voice resounded beside his ear, [Guardian, make a run for it!]